LEISURE TIME: Parks beautify, keep San Angelo on go

The concept of municipal parks as we understand them is an American one and evolved from the development of rural cemeteries in the 1830s.

Rural cemeteries were large burial grounds on the edges of cities that included landscaping (the beginning of landscape architecture), topography, pathways and outdoor art.

Their intent was to reconnect people to nature — this was the age of Romanticism. Mount Auburn in Boston was the first, and a good example.

The next step in park evolution occurred in the late 1850s and early 1860s — the creation of large "natural" parks without burial grounds. Central Park in New York City is a good example.

This park concept eventually merged with other public spaces such as town squares (a concept borrowed from other cultures, particularly the Spanish) to create smaller parks inside cities that offered the public the ability to connect with each other and the greater community, as well as enjoy leisure and recreation.

There have been other incremental evolutions in park development, but an important one for us in San Angelo was the "City Beautiful" movement that began with the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.

The movement encouraged cities to become more attractive by ornamentation, litter and trash collection, adding art in public places and developing parks more for beauty than recreation. That philosophy has persisted in San Angelo for more than 100 years.

The "City Beautiful" movement led to the organization of the League for Civic Improvement. Many cities established their own affiliated group; San Angelo's, I believe, formed in 1902.

Although the first documented mention of creating a park in San Angelo was in 1887 on what read to be the Santa Fe Park area (this from an editorial in the San Angelo Standard), the actual first developed park was U.G. Taylor Park, more commonly known as Civic League Park or "the water lily park."

Uriah Gilliam Taylor donated the land to San Angelo's Civic League in 1903 (deeded to the city in 1911). The city's first park was Firefighters' Memorial City Park at Concho Avenue and Magdalen Street, dating to 1904.

What does this have to do with the purpose of parks? I mention this history because the purpose of parks slowly evolves.

The current emphasis is for parks to be places where folks can stay active, fit and healthy.

Parks do more than that and, in essence, exist to enhance the quality of life for the community. They beautify our cities and provide places for play and recreation.

Reducing stress and promoting relaxation. (I present two interesting asides here — in the last days of Steve Jobs' life, when he was able, he spent as much time as he could at his neighborhood park only blocks from his home. Tim Cook, Apple's current CEO, recently mentioned his preferred place to seek rest and relaxation is at our national parks.)

Economic benefits — those being the proximity principle and tourism. The proximity principle is the fact that property values are higher relative to their closeness to well-developed and maintained parks.

Conservation and ecology.

Promoting creativity.

What have we done in San Angelo since 2000 to improve our park system to receive these benefits? I present the following major works, made possible by the leadership and support of many people, groups and grants:

Developed a Parks, Recreation and Open Space Master Plan, based on public input, in 2001, updated it in 2005 and redeveloped it in 2012.